OSU leads effort to help local schools recruit, support dual-career couples

02/14/2013

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Oregon State University is helping to address the concerns of dual-career couples by taking the lead in establishing the Greater Oregon Higher Education Recruitment Consortium, a branch of the national organization that helps proactively address dual-career concerns.

The local branch includes both private and public colleges, community colleges and universities in Oregon and Washington, and is directed by Robynn Pease. It was established by the OSU Provost’s Office under the direction of Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs Becky Warner.

It is one of 14 regional members of the national Higher Education Recruitment Consortium (HERC). The Greater Oregon branch has just launched its website (www.goherc.org) this week to coincide with an updated HERC website and assist more than 200,000 job seekers across the country.

GO HERC allows job seekers to directly link to regional, relocation, diversity, dual career, and job seeking resources. There is also access to free webinars by experts on a range of recruitment and retention topics.

Warner said the philosophy around recruitment has dramatically shifted across campuses in the United States, and taking into account the broader context of familial relationships is essential.

“We do not just recruit an individual anymore,” Warner said. Instead, she added, universities take into account a potential faculty or staff member’s connections to their family and to the community.

Warner said it’s important that potential faculty and staff identify when the university or the community is not a good fit, because universities can spend thousands of dollars bringing new employees to campus, and if they ultimately leave because it wasn’t the right decision, everyone loses.

Because HERC encompasses public and private institutions around the country, as well as some corporate partners, it does what OSU couldn’t do by itself, offer a comprehensive glimpse into the local job market. “OSU can’t go it alone,” she said.

Pease hopes to attract not only more universities to the membership, but also to bring top employers to the table as well. Employees coming to universities often have highly educated partners and spouses with marketable job skills, which she believes could become an untapped resource for local employers.

“This program helps us retain the top talent in the region,” Pease said, because employees are more likely to remain at OSU and other institutions if their partners can find meaningful employment locally as well.

GO HERC is comprised of 18 dues-paying members representing an array of private and public institutions across Oregon and southern Washington with a goal of increasing membership by 50 percent in the coming year. As a member of GO HERC, institutions convey to potential faculty and staff that their institutions are diverse, family-friendly and supportive of dual-career couples.